


When You Don't Find Them

by acme146



Series: Fading Scars [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dreams, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fantastic Beasts, Gen, Little Person, Mental Illness, stories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-29
Updated: 2017-03-29
Packaged: 2018-10-12 17:47:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10496313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acme146/pseuds/acme146
Summary: When Luna picks up her twins from a visit with Grandpa, she realizes that the old man's given her young son a tough question.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be addressed more fully in the story focused on Lysander, but he was born a little person. This is also called dwarfism, but from the research I've done 'little person' appears to be the self-declared preferred term. Please let me know right away if that is incorrect.   
> Also, it is possible for this to occur in twins. 
> 
> “Scars are just another kind of memory.”   
> ― M.L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans

            It was easier to pick up the twins from babysitting when it was Rolf’s grandad who was taking care of them, Luna thought. Newt was still sharp as a tack and had an incredible amount of energy for his age. Lorcan and Lysander would come home sleepy and well-fed, satisfied by Newt’s stories about his own adventures and, maybe more importantly, of other famous witches and wizards.

            When it was her father, on the other hand…

            Dad was getting on in years, and Luna was finally able to see that the line between fact and fantasy, one that she could cross with ease but still see clearly, had been erased for her father. It probably started a long time ago, maybe when her mother died, maybe when the war started…Luna didn’t know. But it wasn’t just ‘believe in the unseen’ anymore…it was ‘I see the invisible’.

            Rolf worried about leaving the twins alone with him, but Luna knew her father was harmless. The twins were only six, after all—for them all of the world was possibility. Luna didn’t want to take that away from them, nor did she want to deny her father the joy of seeing his grandsons.

            It was still hard to come to her childhood home and see her sons sitting close together on the sofa, staring up in confusion at their Grandpa as he gesticulated about some creature, mumbling so quietly Luna couldn’t quite hear him.

            Lorcan spotted her first. “Mummy!” He leapt off the couch, dragging his brother with him. He flung his arms around her waist, while Lysander hugged her knees, the highest he could reach. “Mummy, is it time to go home?”

            Luna patted their heads. “It is indeed, Daddy’s going to be home in about an hour and we’re going to have a nice picnic for supper, won’t that be fun?”

            “Sounds lovely, Luna my girl!” Her Dad came over unsteadily and gave her a careful hug. “I’d come along and bring stew but I’m expecting an owl.” He pulled back and beamed at her. “Might be some interesting developments on the Jigglytyke front.”

            Luna gently picked up her tiny son and gave her other hand to Lorcan. “That’s lovely, Dad. Send us what you find, Rolf and I will look into it if we have time.”

            “Thank you darling, that means a lot.” Her Dad bent down and ruffled both boys’ hair. “You be good for Mummy, alright?”

            “Yes Grandpa,” the twins chorused.

            Luna took her kids outside. Lamya, their Thestral, was waiting for them just outside the gate. Lorcan and Lysander still couldn’t see her, but Luna and Rolf had drawn pictures and Lysander adored feeding the gentle creature.

            Luna helped Lorcan mount and tucked Lysander between them when she got up behind. “Take us home, Lamya!” she called.

********************************************

            After the picnic supper in the twilit woods behind their home, Rolf carried Lysander home fast asleep. Lysander did his best to keep up with his big brother, but he could fall asleep in under thirty seconds if he was tired. Seeing his dad for the first time in over a week was enough to put him under.

            Lorcan, on the other hand, was not at all tired, and Luna was becoming just a bit frustrated. She’d told him five stories, showed him some of her new photographs and Rolf had come in to sing him a lullaby. Nothing worked; the six year old refused to go to sleep.

            “Lorcan, do you want to spend some time on your own?” Luna asked finally. Lorcan wasn’t good at asking for things he needed, even if it was something as simple as extra reading time before bed.

            Lorcan pulled the covers up to his chin and shook his head, big blue eyes staring back at her.

            “What do you want, Lorcan?”

            Lorcan chewed his lip. “Grandpa said that he told you all about fantastic beasts.”

            _Careful here, Luna._ “He always told me stories about them, yes. He told me about so many different ones, I’ve forgotten some of them.”

            “Did he look for them like Gray-Gramps?”

            “Not very often,” Luna answered. “Usually people would write letters to him or send him trophies and he’d write about them in the _Quibbler.”_

“Were all of them real?”

            Luna sighed. How do you explain to a six year old the disappointment of being twenty-four, of finding so many species that your dad told you about, that everyone thought you were crazy for believing in…but you still couldn’t find that stupid Crumple-Horned Snorkack?

            “Not all of them, Lor. Your Daddy and I found lots of different creatures, some that even Grandpa didn’t know about, but…no, some of the ones that he calls real aren’t real at all. They are imaginary. People make things up sometimes, you see.”

            Lorcan was still chewing his lip. “Was Grandpa trying to trick you, then?”

            “No, darling, and he’s not trying to trick you. He just…” Luna took Lorcan’s hands, so much bigger than his brother’s but still so small. “Your Grandpa’s always believed that there was so much more out there than people thought, and he always wanted to give people a chance to tell the story no one wanted to listen to, and that’s a good thing.”

            “But sometimes they’re not true, right?”

            “No, they’re not always telling the truth.” Luna thought of her Dad, trumpeting that Voldemort was still alive and in hiding, waiting for Harry’s seventh child to be born. It took her, Ginny and Ron to stop Harry from cursing Xenophilius Lovegood into small pieces (Harry apologized once he calmed down).

            “But you know what? Sometimes he was right. He told everyone Voldemort was back when people didn’t want to listen, and that was really good. And some of the creatures he told me about were real, just not quite as he thought.”

            Lorcan frowned. “So how do you _know_ , then?”

            Luna leaned forward and kissed her son’s head. “You go out and look, Lorcan. And you go out with an open mind that maybe those creatures and people are real, and you look for them with wide open eyes. And even if you don’t find them, there’s always something else to look for.”

            Lorcan snuggled down into bed, letting go of her hands. “And they’re still good stories.”

            “They are.” Luna switched off the light as she heard her son yawn. “Just remember that stories are stories, and while they’re fun eventually you do have to know which is which, real life and story.”

            “Doesn’t everyone know that?” Lorcan asked as his eyes slipped shut.

            “Not always, Lorcan,” Luna whispered.

            She felt Rolf’s arms come around her; he must have slipped in without her noticing. “Was he worse today?” he asked.

            “I think this was actually a better day,” Luna replied. She stood, and Rolf put his arm around her waist.

            “He’ll be alright, Moonlight,” Rolf whispered. “He’s got us, and we’ll take care of him.”

            Luna kissed him, suddenly, desperately grateful that there was indeed an ‘us’: her husband, her sons, her friends, her family. Not long ago all she’d had in the world was her father and his truths, and it had taken every bit of courage she’d had to start seeing that maybe he was wrong every once in a while.

            But she’d kept her dreams and found her truths, and if her dad couldn’t do the same then they would find a way to keep him safe.

            His story deserved a happy ending, after all.  

**Author's Note:**

> Hope everyone enjoyed! Just a quick note for those who aren't familiar with my work; there's a main 'hub' story called 'Fading Scars' (first in this series). I recommend everyone at least glance through this, especially in the next couple of weeks. That's where I put all of this AU's stories that involve the characters at large, and it is becoming pretty important as this AU becomes much larger and complex than I intended (for those of you familiar with my work, you know that this is how it goes with me).   
> Cheers,  
> Acme


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